This year, al.com is introducing a brand new feature we're calling The A-List,
a list of the state's Top 15 senior football players. We'll reveal one
new member of the A-List each day leading up to the start of the season
on August 31st.

ArDarius Stewart has already put together a freshman, sophomore and junior year that stacks up with any in Alabama High School football history. The Fultondale athlete is rated No. 3 on al.com's A-List of the state's top 15 prospects for the Class of 2013.

But when he was a freshman, he said he "really didn't do much to help the team.

He was about 5-foot-8 and weighed 140 pounds. His younger brother, Jared, already has him in size. Jared Stewart was a 2A honorable mention all-state pick after six interceptions in limited duty as an eighth-grader last fall.

Research reveals Stewart also picked off six passes in 2009 and ran five back for scores. If Register deemed it worthy to nominate a raw freshman, he'd have likely been an All-State pick that year, too.

ArDarius Stewart was responsible for 50 touchdowns in 2011. (Photo courtesy of 247Sports)

Stewart moved to quarterback in 2010. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in passing and rushing. His arm or legs provided 30 touchdowns. His junior season produced staggering video game numbers: 2,188 rushing yards, 1,419 passing yards, 50 combined rushing and passing touchdowns. He made 48 tackles at safety, snagged three interceptions and scored two more times on returns.

Stewart, now 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, committed to Alabama last January. His quarterback days will likely be done after one more assault on the AHSAA record book. The gyroscopes in his hips should settle at cornerback, safety or receiver in the SEC.

Watch his highlights on Youtube.com. Notice the evasion skills and the ability to create separation in a hiccup. Was he born that fast? Did he come running out of the womb in the delivery room?

Those are not a writer's words, but a Stewart fact.

Stuck in second gear

LaShona Smith, his mother, was at one time a 15-year-old freshman sprinter at Tri-Cities High in Atlanta. She was LaShona Stewart then. Boy, could she fly.

"My mom and my dad were my biggest fans," she said. "That's where I get it from with ArDarius and Jared. I want to be there for my kids and support them in whatever they choose so they can be successful."

Smith ran the 100-yard dash, the 250-yard dash and the relays. She never lost and was even named MVP at a national meet. But all of a sudden, she stopped winning.

That track meet when she came in second and third was her finish line.

"It was like I still had a first and second gear but not a third gear anymore," she said. "My mother wondered what was wrong so she took me to the doctor to get checked out."

The doctor diagnosed her broken third gear. She was six months pregnant with Stewart. Smith was an athlete with a figure to match. She didn't start showing until halfway through her seventh month.

"I just thought 'Oh my god. What will I do? Will I be enough to give him what he needs' and that's when my angel of a mother came in."

Stewart first heard that story from his grandmother Sandra Stewart.

"It was a qualification for the state meet and everyone wondered what was up the first time she lost," he said.

Family support

Sandra Stewart, who passed last March, told Smith she would be a great mother and offered all her support. The family moved back to Birmingham to get closer to their roots. Ray Stewart, Sr., Smith's father, was a star tailback at Tarrant in the 1970s. He'd gotten his name in the paper and a "Black Magic" nickname for his moves, too.

"My mother basically raised ArDarius for me," Smith said. "ArDarius was sort of like my little brother growing up I had him so young. He was basically my mother's baby until I moved out of the house and he became my baby and we started over."

The newborn also meant the end of Smith's track career.

"I gave it all up," she said. "I did it because I wanted to be there for him. I had to put a lot of things on hold for that. His father was from a previous relationship. He's never laid claim to him and has been absent in his life."

Smith, who works for State Farm, settled down and married a man she describes as her lifelong best friend. She'd known Duwan Smith since she was 12. They were neighbors in the East Lake community before the move to Atlanta. They've been married for 10 years.

"The man who was his father had some conversations with ArDarius when he was five years old," she said. "But as far as being in his life, he never stepped to the plate."¶

Stewart doesn't like to mention him. He sees Duwan Smith as his father. He bristles the word 'stepdad' is chosen. He won't use that word.

"That man is my dad," Stewart said. "He's been there from Day 1. That's my Dad and my father, too."

Stewart was born on the eighth day of December at Cooper Green Hospital. It was three days after his grandfather's birthday.

"He wasn't early or late but right on time," LaShona Smith said. "He came out quick. It didn't take him long to get started."

Smith's parents were married for 35 years. When "Black Magic" watches his grandson play, he can say he did the same back in his day.

"He says all the time that ArDarius is living out his dreams," LaShona Smith said.

He's not the only one who can say that.

"I tell him all the time to treasure his opportunities," she said. "School is his job and when he goes to school each day that is his work. How successful he is in school will determine his success in life. He's got to put God first, family second and pray all the way through it. If it wasn't for my Mom keeping ArDarius and letting me go back for my GED I wouldn't be this far in my life. He's doing well so far because he listens. Some kids do not listen to what their parents tell them. Not ArDarius. He will listen."

Kid at play

Stewart is deemed a four-star prospect by Rivals.com. Their rankings have him No. 113 nationally. He has a gear that resembles Michael Vick's bursts through the collapsed pockets of his Virginia Tech days.

He's rated No. 65 nationally by 247sports.com and the Alabama commitment brings a measure of in-state celebrity. The ASWA named him the 2A Back of the Year last season and he's a preseason favorite for the Mr. Football award.

Those laurels don't exactly fit the tiny hallways at Fultondale. But Stewart comes across just as modest as a 2A high school built in 1965.

"God knows," he said. "He sees it all. My name is as important as my game. I want people to mention more than just football and stats. I know what I am. I know what type of person I am. My mom and dad won't let me get the big head around here."

Stewart usually has more fun playing around with Fultondale coach Keith Register's son Konnor than the kid does with the varsity superhero.

"There's not a shred of cockiness to him," Register said. "We call him 'D' because that's who he is. We all call him 'D.' He's still the clown he's always been."

The gaudy stats matter little.

"He likes to win," Register said. "If we sat here and played checkers he'd try to beat me. If I beat him, he start finding a way to beat me next. He could throw or run for 500 yards or five yards and it won't matter. 'D' just wants to win."

'The Man' and acting like one

Crimson Tide fans use Friday nights to take a look at recruits during their senior seasons. That may swell Fultondale crowds this season, beginning with Thursday's home opener against former Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow's new team at Montevallo.

They might see Stewart's flashy socks and label the future Capstone Comet a copycat. It will seem like an ode to Baylor Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.

"ArDarius has been crazy with socks since he was eight in Irondale Little League," Smith said. "His pastor told him and his brother in a sermon that whatever they wanted to do to stand out to be different. They chose socks. People may say this-and-that, but my babies were in Little League doing it first."

Stewart may play like RG3, but he is still a kid. Yet he's already learned a vital lesson about being a star when he's not making big plays. His average game last fall produced 168 rushing and 118 passing yards with four touchdowns. That's a pretty high standard.

If Nick Saban wants to see how Stewart might act when things aren't going great, there's already an answer. When Tanner kept him in check last season, Stewart took himself out of the game at safety.

"I lost my composure," said Stewart, noting the crowd was on him, too. "I had to get my head back."

LaShona Smith quickly found her old third gear. She met him on the sideline.

"My mom may seem like a nice sweet lady, but when she wants to she doesn't have to say much," he said. "She's goes these eyes that can just cut you."

When Stewart pulled himself out, Tanner ripped off a big gain.

Smith brought up the right things, but it was overkill. Her eyes already said it.

"I told him 'No, baby. We are not going to do this in front of your team' because they feed off his morale," LaShona Smith said. "If they see him down, they will get down. He's a leader and not just to the end zone. He must act like one."

She repeated what his father Duwan Smith says: If he's going to be the man on the field, he also must act like one.

When Fultondale lost to Lineville in the third round of the playoffs, Stewart felt even worse. He threw an interception. He had no time to throw and was getting hit before he could hand off.

He never let anyone see his pain. Like mom said, he listens.

"Stay up for the team to keep them up," he said. "Don't give up. I kept it all inside going through the handshake line at the end. I was burning up, but nobody saw it."

Stewart is from a Crimson Tide family, but his favorite player is Cam Newton. It's not the wildest thing in his life so far.

"When I tell him God can do things that will exceed what we ask for it is the truth," LaShona Smith said. "It's not anything I did or my Mom did. God works through people. He will line up the people in life who can help you. God got me through ArDarius coming into the world. That's where I am at and wherever ArDarius is headed, he's going to have God with him, too."